Category: Quebec History

The Great Grammar Brawl of ’77

They are a people with no history, and no literature. With those words, among the most quoted of his infamous report, Lord Durham hit a sore spot. But, as certain well-placed families in Lower Canada acquired capital in the 1840s and 1850s, they secured not only the political influence of French Canadians but their cultural […]

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Quebec’s Emigration Debates: 7 Takeaways

As some of you know, in the last few months, I have compiled all debates of the Quebec legislature that addressed (or mentioned) emigration and repatriation between 1867 and 1900. In making these debates more accessible, I hope they will draw the attention and interest of other researchers, thus bringing more voices into the historical […]

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Showdown in Chicago: Forming Franco-America

See Part I here. The Convention nationale des Canadiens français des Etats-Unis opened in Chicago on August 22, 1893. The event drew hundreds of delegates—though the attractions of the Columbian Exposition likely had something to do with their interest in attending. Exemplifying the incredible breadth of the French-Canadian diaspora, these delegates came from Langdon, North […]

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Showdown in Chicago: The Summer of ’93

In the summer of 1893, all roads led to Chicago. The Great Republic was celebrating itself—or at least its white, colonialist incarnation—and the whole world was invited. The Columbian Exposition was to recognize four centuries of European settlement and achievement in the Americas and the United States’ own social and technological progress. All was not […]

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The Day Repatriation Died

It was half past three on July 5, 1888—well, shortly after half past three, some members of Quebec’s lower house being perennially slow to take their seats. Speaker Marchand turned to the honorable member for the riding of Bellechasse, on his left. Faucher de Saint-Maurice had the floor. So did, vicariously, the Franco-American community. Faucher […]

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Quebec’s Emigration Debates (1867-1880): New Resource

Not a week goes by that we do not find new and interesting articles, videos, and conversations about Franco-American history and culture. Lately, at Moderne Francos, Melody Desjardins draws attention to traditions old and new that might help spark a cultural renaissance. Over at My French-Canadian Family, Tim Beaulieu has the story of actor Christopher […]

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A Political History of Franco-Americans: The Book

As many of you know, my first academic book, John F. Kennedy and the Politics of Faith, is now available from the University Press of Kansas. I am touched by the expressions of interest and support I’ve received in the last few weeks. As readers might suspect, the book is drawing attention due to its […]

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Those Other Franco-Americans: St. Albans, Part I

One particular claim to fame dominates the history of St. Albans, Vermont: the Confederate raid on local banks that was staged from Canadian soil in 1864. Other events that truly made the city remain little known to outsiders, as is the history of the region as a whole. The Confederate raid at least has the […]

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Survivance and Its Discontents

One cannot tell the story of the northeastern Franco-Americans without discussing survivance. This was an ideology of cultural survival in which the French language and the Roman Catholic faith were mutually supportive, with the loss of the first entailing earthly perdition and eternal damnation. These were the two pillars of French Canadians’ identity, the primary […]

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Traveling with a Bishop in 1815, Part I

Four men joined the expedition—men of the cloth, all with a strong constitution, able to carry a heavy load of personal belongings, supplies, and religious items that would eventually fill up Quebeckers’ deep well of curse words. De Boucherville, Gaulin, Gauvreau, and Bolduc had as their esteemed companion and leader the bishop of Quebec, Joseph-Octave […]

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